ISTE for Teachers Standard 4 - Trigger Question Reflection

ISTE for Teachers Standard 4 - Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. 

a.       Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources 

b.       Address the diverse needs of all learners by using learner-centered strategies providing equitable access to appropriate digital tools and resources 

c.        Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information 

d.       Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital age communication and collaboration tool

Question: How can I teach/model to my 4th grade English Language Learners safe, legal and ethical use of digital information and technology?

Resource:  Technology Safety for English Language Learners (Links to an external site.)

Summary: 

On this website there is a variety of different resources for teachers and parents to access to help teach and support students with internet safety. The biggest challenge for my class is, that a majority of my students and their families speak different languages other than English. This website provides many different medias and resources for other languages. I really like NetSmartz Workshop which provides videos, games, activities cards and presentations for teachers and parents to use, and the website is available in Spanish, which will cater to a majority of my student’s families. I also really like iKeepSafe which offers videos in Spanish and Arabic-languages that are a part of my class makeup this year.

Reflection:

The biggest challenge that I face with integrating technology into my classroom is finding the time to explicitly teach internet safety and how to cite sources when we research information for class projects. My students are of that age where they now own cellphones, have iPads, tablets, and access to video and computer games that connect them to other users all over the world. One of the articles that I really enjoyed reading was found by Conrado Julian, who is part of my learning circle. The article is titled “The Strategy forDigital Citizenship: Children in a Digital World.” What I really loved about this article is that it really hit upon the ideas that educators tend to overlook. That technology can be integrated into everyday lessons. The source states “In a school that prides itself on academic excellence and character development, digital citizenship needs to be woven throughout all core curricular areas. It needs to be relevant to students’ lives and integrated into their everyday learning and living” (Orth, 2013). As teachers, it is part of our job to make whatever we are learning in class, in any subject area, relevant to real world application and purpose. I have never really thought I integrating technology into a lot of my core subject areas, but can see how important it can be. I just wish that we had more resources here at our school to be able to do technology integration smoothly. Normally when we do so, to get students logged on, into the system or application we are using, it takes a lot away from instruction time. But I am definitely more aware and thinking more about how I can integrate to teach my students how to cite their sources during research, what is a reliable source, how to perform safe searches as we enter into informational writing. 

Another idea that I really liked about this article is having that school-home/parent connection. For instance in the source, it says “alignment between school and home with regards to digital citizenship and healthy digital usage is a hallmark of a 21^st century school. A community-wide understanding on norms, rules of engagement, and common practices is necessary for all schools in order to raise an ethical, digital (and real-life) citizen” (Orth, 2013). My school has really jumped on board with a lot of ideas to try and get parents more involved. Just after researching for ISTE3, our school is now jumping on board with getting the Remind App for school-parent communication. We as educators know how much parents really rely on us to help their students, this article fully supports that idea. At Horizon, we already have a group of parents, ParentNet, that connect with our Spanish speaking families to help close the gap. With information from this article, it would be nice to add that technology safety and cyber bullying component to their group conversation.

Another resource that I found that will be very helpful for my English learning kids is the resource that another fellow learning circle mate, Vanessa Oh found titled 13 Apps and Gamesfor Internet Safety Awareness. With English Language Learners, we are told that having visuals-such as drawing, sketches, and videos are great tools to help them understand concepts. These applications provide a way for students to visually see and participate in learning internet safety. An example of one of the games is below:  Carengie Cadets: MySecureCyberspace Game Demo 

After all the research I believe that my question has been answered. In order for my students to learn safe, legal and ethical technology practices, they must be integrated throughout core instruction and taught explicitly. As teachers, we cannot come to the conclusion that since our students have access to these gadgets that they know the proper ways to use them. We also need to help bridge the gap between home and school life. At Horizon, we constantly talk about how our PBIS behavior system can be transferred to home use, technology safey, is another thing we need to think about linking as well. With my question also being directed towards ELL students, that falls on how to approach the instruction of technology safety. When I teach these concepts, I have to have a lot of vocabulary practice and visual representation, which most of these resources found through research have provided.  These websites have given fun, hands on ways for our students to learn important concepts. 

Resources:

 C. (n.d.). Technology Safety for English Language Learners. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from http://www.colorincolorado.org/teaching-ells/technology-ells/technology-safety-english-language-learners

 G. (n.d.). 13 Apps and Games for Internet Safety Awareness. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/13-apps-games-internet-safety-awareness 

 Orth, D., & Chen, E. (2013). The Strategy for Digital Citizenship: Children in a Digital World. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/The-Strategy-for-Digital-Citizenship.aspx